Israel: Children aged 5-11 can be vaccinated against COVID-19

Israel has announced that children aged five to 11 can be vaccinated against COVID-19 and that the start date of the vaccination campaign will be announced in a few days.

The decision, announced by the Ministry of Health, follows approval by the Committee on Vaccine Specialists last week, after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine for this age group in a single dose which is 10 micrograms.

The dose given to children 12 years of age and older is 30 micrograms. Pfizer and BioNTech have said that their vaccine has been shown to be 90.7% effective against coronavirus in a clinical trial in children aged five to 11 years.

The ministry said in a statement that the start date of vaccination of children aged five to 11 years with the Pfizer / BioNTech formulation could be set within a few days.

"The majority of experts on the committee were of the opinion that the benefit of vaccinating this age group outweighs any risk," the ministry said in a statement.

Israel's 9.4 million people are relatively young, with about 1.2 million children in the five- to 11-year-old age group. Health officials say the country cannot achieve "collective immunity" unless children of this age are vaccinated.

A poll in Israel last week found that 27% of parents would allow their children under the age of 12 to get the vaccine, with 33% opposed and 40% undecided.

Four million Israelis have taken booster doses, which were approved in August for those who had been given the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at least five months earlier.

By adopting a "Living with COVID" strategy, the government has largely kept schools and the economy open during the fourth wave of infections, hoping to repel the pandemic with booster doses, mandatory mask use and a digital certification system. Green Pass ».

Source: Reuters-AFP